This study focuses on assessing the effects of the indoor climate in typical multi-storey hostels in Malaysia on student occupants through objective, subjective and evidence based prioritisation measurements. The objective measurements consisted of operative temperature; daylight ratio; luminance and indoor noise level. The subjective measurements were sampled from the student occupants' thermal, visual, acoustics and overall indoor comfort votes. The prioritisation measurement using Multiple Linear Regression and Friedman Tests assessed the relationship between physical indoor thermal, visual and acoustics conditions and students' overall indoor comfort perception vote. Findings suggest that subjective sensor ratings were significantly more reliable than objective measurements at predicting overall indoor comfort. Moreover, students living in hostel rooms with projected balconies voted that they were more satisfied with their indoor condition than the ones living in rooms without projected balconies. The results of this study also provide evidence that student occupants were more concerned with their rooms' thermal condition then followed by acoustics and finally visual conditions.

Conventional tropical building designs are experiencing a new paradigm in their environmental response to improve lighting ambiance and occupants' visual comfort through the exploitation of daylighting. However, it is important for architects to understand that flaws in daylighting strategies could lead to disadvantages as they could hinder vision, cause discomfort, increase interior heat gain, and result in excessive energy demands. The objective of this study was to assess how occupants' perceived their visual conditions through daylight ratio and luminance level measurements. Measurements were conducted throughout a 2month period starting from 12th May to 3rd July 2007. Three case studies were conducted at typical Malaysian hostels located in the Klang Valley. Those selected were: the Twelfth Residential College, Universiti Malaya (H1); the Eleventh Residential College, Universiti Putra Malaysia (H2); and Murni Student Apartments, Universiti Tenaga Nasional (H3). The daylighting source in all these case studies were from side-lit windows. Overall, the findings suggested that occupants were at ease with the level of daylighting available in their rooms even though rooms that were shaded by projecting balconies (i.e.,: H1) were dimmer than the rooms that were not shaded (i.e.,: H2 and H3).

With the growth of the multinational corporation (MNC) has come the need to understand how parent companies transfer knowledge to, and manage the operations of, their subsidiaries. Japanese companies in particular have been pioneering in this regard, with techniques such as the Toyota Production System (TPS) for transferring the ethos of Japanese manufacturing and maintaining quality and control in overseas subsidiaries. A great deal has been written about the process of transferring Japanese manufacturing techniques, but much less is understood about how the subsidiaries themselves, which are required to make use of such techniques, actually acquire and incorporate them into their operations. This paper examines how, from the perspective of the subsidiary, knowledge of manufacturing techniques, is transferred from the parent company. An in-depth qualitative research was, therefore, conducted in the subsidiary of a Japanese multinational, involving three main manufacturing initiatives (or philosophies), namely 'TPS', 'TPM' and 'TS'. The case data were derived from 52 in-depth interviews with project members, moderate-participant observations, and documentations. This study contributes to our understanding of knowledge transfer in relation to the approaches of adaptation and replication of knowledge within the subsidiary, how the whole process is developed, and also how a new mode of transfer, coined as 'innovation' takes place.

The current scenario of increasing number of Higher Learning Instituitions (HLIs)

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